APPENDIX.
xxi.
exchange of Slavery for Apprenticeship. It is the general belief of many residents and eyewitnesses, that their yoke during the earlier part of the n e w era w a s even heavier than before. Some good subsequently w a s effected by the favorable influence of Sir EVAN MAC GREGOR ; and more recently some of the Planters, i n 足 cluding one gentleman w h o is Attorney for the majority of the estates of the absentee proprietors, have themselves pursued a more indulgent course. W i t h all these alleviations, we believe the negros to have gained nothing by the t w e n t y millions but the hope of freedom in 1 8 4 0 . In m a n y instances they are deprived of the old slave allowances of salt fish and meal, &c. Their children are neglected, and mothers are compelled to repay the time lost in attendance on them w h e n sick. Pregnant w o m e n are sometimes kept at labor in the field nearly to the day of their delivery. The people are often kept at work in the field in heavy rain, at the risk of their health. The power of imprisonment in the estates' cachots, conferred by the Local Act, as a security against the escape of offenders is frequently employed by the Managers as a punishment ; and lastly, they have no protection against ill-treatment from persons w h o are not their employers. The Special Magistrate h a s not power to s u m m o n s before h i m , on the complaint of an Apprentice, any person of free condition, other than the person entitled to the services of the Apprentice. H e h a s power, however, to punish an Apprentice on the complaint of any person whatever. A n Apprentice, therefore, in case he is ill treated by any free person, other than his master, m u s t resort to the General Justices of the Peace, or to the Supreme Courts of the Island. W e have before us thirteen examples of the practical value of this privilege, in a list of as many cases of A p 足 prentices, assaulted by free persons, not their owners, within the short space of one month, w h o , after making many applications, could get no Justice of the Peace to entertain their complaints.